162 I Can Read You Like a Book E
Nothing occurs in a vacuum, so ask yourself what real-life
elements would play in here. Paranoid delusions aside, you might
evaluate the situation like this:
ƒ The faster-than-normal gate with barriering projects
a desire to minimize exposure time.
ƒ The jerky movement indicates a preoccupied mind.
ƒ The fact that he averted his gaze down could be out-
right guilt.
Your interpretation at this point is that maybe you should be
concerned. After all, Friday in the United States is the most popular
day to terminate employees for non-performance. What you have
done in this situation is review all of the body language and apply
what you know about the boss’s norms, and then look for the pieces
that stand out to evaluate his body language. You added to that a
factor that colors the context—something I will go into more in
Chapter 7.
Up to now, I have given you overall tools for absorbing infor-
mation about other people. I did not have to teach you to evaluate—
you taught yourself the “E.” You are now noticing the subtleties of
a person’s communication style and are almost ready to move on.
Almost. First, you need to know what causes this information to be
tainted.
